My name is Charlotte Davis and I will be entering my Junior year in the fall. I am from Colorado which is by I’m studying marine biology at the University of Oregon; it’s a little hard to study the ocean in a land-locked state. I love to do just about anything outdoors such as hiking, swimming, and camping.
Thor’s Well
Summer of 2021 my family and I took a road trip back to Colorado. There were several beautiful sights we saw and places we visited, but none compared to Thor’s Well. You can only access the Well by crossing a bridge and walking down a trail on the other side. The Well itself is naturally formed, carved out of the rocky coastline by the harsh tide. The water enters in a small hole in the bottom of the bowl and pushes to the top making, occasionally spilling over. I was in awe by Thor’s Well as the ebb and flow of the waves looked like the ocean was breathing!
The area around Thor’s Well was teaming with life. The overflow created tide pools that housed sea anemones, an absurd amount of mussels, small fish, and occasionally tadpoles! The rocky outcrops were also covered with mussels and salt deposits.
Along the coastline, a little north of Thor’s Well was the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. There was another trail to get to the lighthouse. Along the way, there were flowers, several douglas fur trees, and deciduous trees. The photo on the right displays a blue heron sitting in a douglas fur tree. Growing up, my Mother always told me the blue herons were good luck. It made me smile to see these large birds, which I’d previously only seen in Colorado, in Oregon. Eventually, the trees turned to harsh rocks and sheer cliffs. Yaquina Lighthouse was built on one of the cliffsides. However, as we were walking the last bit of the trail, I overheard barking. Looking down the left side of the cliff, I saw harbor seals resting on an outcrop of one of the rocks below. The lighthouse itself was quaint and white as it stood stoically on the cliffside.
By the time we reached the lighthouse, I was so full of joy and appreciation of the natural world. The combination of Thor’s Well, the beauty of the Pasicficic coast, and all of the organisms intensified my love for the natural world. I find that it is too easy to take what we have for granted. To busy ourselves with the destination to the point that we forget to stop, look around, and appreciate the world around us. Thor’s Well stood out to me among the several places we stopped at because it was just so alive. The Well, breathing in tandem with the ocean, feeding the tiny tidepool ecosystems scattered along the edges. The harbor seals swimming in the waters just off the coast with the Yaquina Lighthouse standing guard.
